5But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. 6There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you. 8You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— 9for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. 10But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, 11then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord. 12And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 13Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 14but in the place which the Lord chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

15″However, you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike. 16Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 17You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil, of the firstborn of your herd or your flock, of any of your offerings which you vow, of your freewill offerings, or of the heave offering of your hand. 18But you must eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all to which you put your hands. 19Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

The Israelites were instructed as to where to go to give their tithes (wherever the tabernacle/presence of God was), and the manner in which they should be eaten (as a family/nation, with rejoicing, especially including the Levites). Unlike the tithe described in Numbers, which was given to the Levites, this tithe was consumed by the ones doing the tithing, and was not specifically dedicated to the Lord. THIS TITHE WAS ASSOCIATED WITH THE FEASTS AND FESTIVALS.

This week remember that your feelings are not always based on reality. So when you are feeling stressed or anxious, or even happy or excited, don’t make decisions based on these feelings. If necessary, wait until the emotions pass (and they will, eventually). Emotions are not reliable, and they rarely tell you the truth. Instead, as always, go to Father. “Daddy, what is YOUR Truth here? What do I need to do in this situation?” He will always give you wisdom.

19″All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever; it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you.” 20Then the Lord said to Aaron: “You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

21″Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting. 22Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. 23But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’ ” 25Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26″Speak thus to the Levites, and say to them: ‘When you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to the Lord, a tenth of the tithe. 27And your heave offering shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor and as the fullness of the winepress. 28Thus you shall also offer a heave offering to the Lord from all your tithes which you receive from the children of Israel, and you shall give the Lord’s heave offering from it to Aaron the priest.'”

Israel was directed to tithe directly to the Levites, the tribe of Israel that was set aside as a tithe of the people to be holy unto the Lord. It was to be their inheritance, or payment, since they would be completely devoted to the administration and implementation of the tabernacle of the Lord and its ordinances, feasts, etc. They didn’t even have any “land” of their own, but were given several regions from the other tribes in which to live. They were to spend all of their time ministering to the Lord and to His people. The Levites, in turn, were to tithe what they received to the Lord, in the form of a heave offering (which meant it was held up to the Lord), which was in turn offered to Aaron and his family, or whomever was the High Priest. THE TITHE DESCRIBED HERE WAS SET ASIDE FOR THE LEVITES AND HIGH PRIEST.

Spiritually speaking, there are only two kinds of people on the earth today — dead and alive! God first created man after His own likeness: as like begets like, Spirit begets Spirit. The thing brought forth depends on the seed.

Human Spirit?

There is no specific mention of a “human spirit” in the scriptures. The idea is expressed in a variety of ways, from spirit to heart and kidney in the Old Testament, yet the same word, pneuma, is rendered evil spirit and the spirit of God in the New Testament (for instance, in the first chapter of Mark the word “spirit” is rendered as the Spirit of God, Jesus’s spirit, and unclean spirits). In this case, the scriptures shed surprisingly little light on this issue, except that one of the purposes of the Word is to divide between an individual’s spirit and soul. This is important, in that it clearly differentiates between the two, even if there is no clarification of the boundaries, purposes or destiny of each (there is no mention of an eternal soul, or eternal spirit, for that matter). It is the spirit that communicates with and relates to God. Since we were born dead in our spirit, it took an act of the spirit to enable us to even hear God’s knocking. Without our spirits functioning, we had to make do with what we had control over — our soul (mind, will and emotions) and our body to meet our God-given needs for love, acceptance and value.

Spirit of God

Generally speaking, when we speak of something in terms of its being “spiritual,” what we are really saying is that it has a spiritual source and spiritual attributes. What are these attributes, and where do they come from? If like begets like, and Spirit begets Spirit, what is true of the seed is true of what that seed grows into, even if it appears different. For example, Jesus was begotten of the Father, by the Holy Spirit. What attributes are we speaking of here? Holiness, Righteousness, Peace, Eternal Life, Joy, Omnipotence, Omniscience, et cetera. All of the characteristics or attributes of the Father are found in the Son through the Holy Spirit! So for something to be truly Spiritual, it would have to have those same characteristics. Likewise the spiritual realm would be described in those terms; in the true spiritual realm, there is no shadow of turning, no mistakes, no doubt, no flesh. There is only the Perfect Presence of Love.

The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas — a trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideals to which we are dedicated.

Ronald Reagan

Our true identity, as spirit beings, does not enable us to opt-out of the affairs of either the supernatural or natural realm. Quite the contrary. When we talk about learning to rule and reign, it is over both the supernatural and natural realms. To do so we must be able to distinguish our own preconceptions from direction from God. Through this time of processing, God refines our judgment, within our soul, to be able to use wisdom and understanding, leadership and persuasion, compassion and encouragement as He directs. These are tools; we must learn how to use them if they are to be available for God’s use in and through us. It is inevitable that those who truly know their God, and depend on Him, will affect the state of mankind and the course of history (for reference, see “Jesus”).

What is your worldview, and what specifically are you doing now to rule and reign tomorrow?

There’s this television commercial out now, maybe you’ve seen it, for a pest control company: The lady of the house opens the front door and there’s a 6-ft roach holding a stack of pizzas, asking for entry to the home. Her mind tries to get a grasp on this critter as she responds “I don’t think we ordered any pizzas.” Then, of course, the exterminator shows up (whew!).

Wouldn’t it be great if all of the threats against us were that obvious?! And that easy to deal with?

Because the enemies we contend with daily are much subtler, it really helps to know and be reminded of our individual vulnerabilities. Take the time and energy to know your temperament, your physical limitations (sleep, nutrition, etc.), and how you deal with stress, and be willing to make changes accordingly to prevent the creepy crawlies from getting in the front door.

There are enough points of entry that are challenging; let’s make sure we don’t overlook the obvious.

Our Brother Samuel in Kenya has asked for financial help to buy food for his family, church and the homeless families and orphans they are caring for. Most of them survived the recent post-election civil war, and had hoped to begin rebuilding their homes and communites, but now the food shortages are so great that there are demonstrations and riots against the government.

Here’s the contact information to send money via Western Union:

Samuel Asonga Atema

Kenya

You will need to supply a “Test Question & Answer” for security purposes [example: name of dog / Spot].

Then email the MTCN number and “Test Question & Answer” to samuelasonga@yahoo.com. He will not be able to receive your gift unless he has all the information.

Any amount would be appreciated, suggest min. $25.

If you would rather not contact him directly you can send gift to me via paypal [you do not need to ‘join’ paypal in order to use their services–look for ‘Don’t have a PayPal account?’] and I will forward via Western Union. I have set up a separate paypal account for this purpose: wecanprepare@gmail.com. Here’s a link:

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

“It’s not enough that we do our best;
sometimes we have to do what’s required.”

Sir Winston Churchill

Understanding our duty, our responsibility as citizens of whatever country is to acknowledge our present-tense role as conduits of the grace, wisdom and freedom of Almighty God. If anyone can value freedom, it should be those who depend on God for achieving and giving eternal freedom to them, unconditionally.

Because your enemies know their days are numbered. The world system has a ‘life’ of its own, and joins the devil and your flesh in sometimes desperate, often subtle measures to keep you from becoming free and whole. Knowing you are a target will keep you alert to what is going on in and around you as part of training your soulical and natural senses. The best way to counter any attacks, or even threats, is to embrace them as additional opportunities to depend on God and learn to rule and reign on this earth now.